The Representation of Radical Islamists in the NYC and USA Today American Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis Study

Abstract

This study fulfills a critical discourse analysis study of the radical Islamist news in American New York Times and USA Today newspapers. The study aims to find how the radical Islamist are represented in American newspapers and whether those newspapers manipulate the language used to serve certain purposes and how this effect on Muslims in general. The hypotheses proposed to achieve the aims of this study are; American newspapers manipulate the language for ideological purposes and that the way radical Islamist are presented effects on moderate Muslims. Moreover, the study presents a brief theoretical background about critical discourse analysis. The model eclectics for this analysis, is made up of van Dijk (1988) for the linguistic level, and van Dijk’s Ideological Square (1998) and Yul’s (1986) presupposition triggers for the ideological level. The analysis of the data leads to the following conclusions; American newspapers do manipulate the language of the articles and that no difference is made between Radical and moderated Muslims, this effect on moderated Muslims in a negative way.

Keywords: CDA, radical Islamists, NYC, USA Today